Msimanga administration to push for accountability for the irregular GladAfrica tender
The Msimanga administration welcomes the Auditor-General’s (A-G) finding that the awarding of the GladAfrica contract was indeed irregular. This process is as part of the A-G’s annual assessment of the City’s financial performance.
The auditor-general found, among other things, that the contract award was not compliant with Regulation 32. It was also found that the City procured beyond the scope and terms and conditions of the original contract the service provider had with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).
If a contract has been deemed to have been concluded irregularly, as has been declared by the A-G and stated in the financial statements, then all other expenditure thereon is too considered irregular. Thus the R317 million already spent on GladAfrica is also irregular.
The City Manager, Dr Moeketsi Mosola, the master mind behind the awarding of the contract, on 15 August 2018, stated categorically that all was above board with the contract. This was after I had put pertinent questions to him about the details of the GladAfrica award.
The A-G differed with Mosola’s position, and this has forced him to concede to the A-G that the contract is indeed irregular.
Because Mayor Msimanga did not find Mosola’s explanations adequate, he reported the matter to the municipal council in September last year.
Two facts about Glad Africa are of particular significance.
First, the exclusive appointment of GladAfrica in place of what was meant to be a panel of service providers, and the price tag of the award, was never properly reported either to the Mayoral Committee or Council by the City Manager; this is, by law, how the Mayor holds the administration to account, unless of course crucial information is deliberately withheld by the head of the administration.
Second, the fact that a legal opinion expressly warned the City Manager that the award would be irregular, and that he ignored the opinion, was never disclosed to the Mayoral Committee or the Municipal Council by the City Manager as part of his formal supply chain management reporting duties.
We have done and continue to do our duty in holding a deeply compromised City Manager to account. Compare this to how the ANC treated Mosola’s predecessor Jason Ngobeni over PEU, and how they still block action against Mosola on GladAfrica.
Mosola is at present blocking the investigation in labour court on technical grounds. In any event, the Executive Mayor will ask attorneys that the case be fast-tracked so that matter can be unblocked the preliminary report can be tabled in council and there can be accountability.
The DA-led administration remains committed to getting to the bottom of the GladAfrica matter and ensuring all those responsible are held to account.
Tshwane residents deserve officials that they can trust who responsibly spend every cent to create opportunities for all. It is in this regard that this administration will not stop until accountability for this highly irregular contract is upheld.
Statement issued by Tshwane Mayor, Solly Msimanga, 25 January 2019
